Air New Zealand Air Points - NZ awards to VLI [Port Vila, Vanuatu]

It doesn't appear to me that I can see NZ award availability between AKL and VLI on the ANA tool. Can anyone advise if that's correct, or is it operator error?

And if it is correct, can anyone recommend any alternatives to look such a thing up? I don't have a full version of the KVS tool.

I tried to go to VIL with an award last April but it was not possible since flights are operated by Zeal and not NZ. I had to buy an Air Vanuatu ticket from NAN to go to Vila and Spiritu Santo, but the price was quite cheap. And it was worth it!

Zeal is just one of several subsidiary operating companies that make up Air NZ. All Air NZ A320 aircraft and flights are in fact operated by Zeal. For the purposes of award travel availability or anything else relating to Star Alliance benefits, it makes no difference which operating company operates your flight.

Expertflyer.com enables you to see award seat to more "exotic" locations like Port Vila and Niue.

Zeal is just one of several subsidiary operating companies that make up Air NZ. All Air NZ A320 aircraft and flights are in fact operated by Zeal. For the purposes of award travel availability or anything else relating to Star Alliance benefits, it makes no difference which operating company operates your flight.

In fact, it does, at least when you try to redeem an award with a Star Alliance partner (but maybe not with NZ). From A to B, some flights are sometimes operated by NZ, sometimes by Zeal, and theses latter are not available as rewards (no codeshare is allowed). At least for UA...

In fact, it does, at least when you try to redeem an award with a Star Alliance partner (but maybe not with NZ). From A to B, some flights are sometimes operated by NZ, sometimes by Zeal, and theses latter are not available as rewards (no codeshare is allowed). At least for UA...

All A320 flights are operated by "Zeal". But "Zeal" flights are not codeshares, they are true Air NZ flights like all of Air NZ's other subsidiary operating companies: Air Nelson, Mt Cook, etc.

This has no effect on award availability. Looking on the ANA tool, I see many awards on "Zeal" flights available to star alliance partners in both Economy and Business.

Perhaps VLI is a special case, but if there are no awards available, it is due to some other reason, not because the flight is operated by Zeal.

Think of Zeal as being a bit like Ted. A different operating company (100% owned by Air NZ) for purpose of financing & crew contracts, but it is still Air NZ for all things that matter to passengers.

Now AKL-VLI awards are available to other FFPs, and should have decent availability in both economy and business class. I have no idea why ANA tool can't find them. Note there are only a couple of flights a week, one of which is operated by Air Vanuatu (that one will be ineligible for partner redemptions).

Just bumping this one, with a bit of cheek for a request for help.

Can anyone with access to one of the better award availability tools do a quick search for me on the AKL-VLI route and see if there is any kind of availability at all in Nov / Dec? What I'm after is to set myself some reasonsable expectations. i.e. Do I have no chance of any redemptions at all? Or might I be lucky to score 1 Y seat in a week's worth of departures? Or might I really be in with a chance of getting the entire kbd family (4 of us) across for a week or 10 days or whatever - even if Mrs kbd and I took one child each and flew on different days. In J or Y. Actual start point is NSN.

Pretty please? :D

The ANA tool does not support VLI as a destination :(

Edited to add - I see from NZ website there is only a Sunday flight in November/December. Most Sundays in November and some Sundays in December there are 2 adult seats available at the lowest paid fare.

The ANA tool does not support VLI as a destination :(Yeah, that's what drove me to launch this thread in the first place. And the [bump] was in case anyone could see more on ... ??? ... expertflyer? KVS?

But can anyone?

Edited to add - I see from NZ website there is only a Sunday flight in November/December. Most Sundays in November and some Sundays in December there are 2 adult seats available at the lowest paid fare.OK, thanks for that. And you're talking paid seats right? So in your experience is that some kind of guide as to the availability of award seats?

Put it this way - if only expensive paid fares are available, odds are there are no awards available on the same flight.

Just bumping this one, with a bit of cheek for a request for help.

Can anyone with access to one of the better award availability tools do a quick search for me on the AKL-VLI route and see if there is any kind of availability at all in Nov / Dec?

From Expertflyer:

AKL-VLI:
Nov 2 - 1 seat
Nov 16 - 10 seats (9 on NZ878, 1 on NZ 378)
Nov 30 - 7 seats (4 on NZ878, 4 on NZ 378)
Dec 7 - 9 seats (8 on NZ878, 1 on NZ 378)

VLI-AKL:
Nov 9 - 9 seats
Nov 23 - 9 seats
Dec 7 - 9 seats
Dec 21 - 7 seats
Dec 28 - 8 seats